The Los Angeles Times is reporting that a former Toyota attorney has accused the world's largest automaker of covering up hazardous problems with their cars in as many as 300 separate lawsuits. The lawyer, Dimitrios Biller, told the newspaper, "Toyota is a very secretive corporation."
"It doesn't believe anybody outside the corporation deserves to know what is going on inside, even if it kills somebody."
Biller's accusations are unrelated to the sudden acceleration issue known to affect eight different Toyota models. The sticking accelerator, and a faulty floormat that affects use of the gas pedal, has been the subject of a recall and production freeze affecting millions of vehicles.
Biller has filed a federal lawsuit accusing Toyota of tampering with and disposing of evidence. The suit claims that a culture of corruption exists throughout the automaker, leading up to the boardroom in Japan. He also says that Toyota frequently withheld evidence in other lawsuits.
The former employee acquired over 6,000 internal papers during his time at Toyota that support his accusations, Biller said. He says he got hold of the papers when mounting a defence in a 2005 case related to a rollover accident. Upon visiting several Toyota offices, he found a large volume of documents that had not been given to him, he said.
"I was distraught because I knew there probably was stuff in there that the company did not produce," Biller said. Biller would have been required by law to turn the documents over to plaintiff attorneys if they were requested. The documents are currently under seal, with an arbitrator deliberating on making them public.
"Mr. Biller is legally bound not to reveal documentation he acquired when he was in our employ," a Toyota spokeswoman told the LA Times. However, if the documents relate to a haphazard approach to public safety the arbitrator may ignore Toyota's stance.
"Toyota does not believe it has to follow orders or turn over documents," Biller told the newspaper. "They just don't think the rules apply to them." He went on to say that his supervisors made no effort to fix the problem once reported to them.
Biller received $3.9 million in severance when he left Toyota. Toyota's spokeswoman believes the release of documents would be a violation of his agreement with the automaker. Before Toyota, Biller handled product-liability litigation for Ford, amongst others.
Former lawyer accuses Toyota of concealing safety issues
Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc., placed full-page newspaper ads in more than 20 major media markets throughout the United States. The Jan. 31, 2010, ads concern Toyota?s actions involving the sticking accelerator pedal recall.
Related Articles
-
No evidence of Toyota electronic failures - NHTSA
(8 comments) -
Toyota agrees to pay $16.4M fine over sticky pedal recall
(14 comments) -
Toyota faces second fine for slow disclosure of accelerator pedal defect
(14 comments) -
NHTSA to fine Toyota $16.4M for slow disclosure of accelerator pedal defect
(8 comments) -
![Accelerating Toyota Prius Incident in New York May Be Driver Error [Video]]( http://cdn3.worldcarfans.co/2010/3/thumbs/25217.tn.jpg)
Accelerating Toyota Prius Incident in New York May Be Driver Error [Video]
(4 comments)
Add a Comment
Login
Comments (54)
Snipey47a
I do respect Toyota greatly.... but somehow this doesn't surprise me at all...... When you are that big, you will do anything to stay that way. This totally goes against their Toyota Way philosophy which is what got them to the position of greatness they were in for the past decade. If this trouble erodes trust in Toyota it may take them many years to get it back.... look at what happened with Mitsubishi as an example
February 4, 2010 12:25 pm
dbehmoaras
Also Audi back in the 80s, they weren't able to recover until less than 10 years ago.
February 4, 2010 7:30 pm
sebfill55
Honestly Toyota should burn for this, this would never happen with a german car manufacturer. Thanks Toyota for making our world a safer place :) and for caring bout it :).
February 4, 2010 12:30 pm
dbehmoaras
Not true at all. In fact, it has happened, to Audi no less. Took Audi more than 15 years to build back customer loyalty.
February 4, 2010 8:24 pm
mpower333
This whole thing is getting blown completely out of proportion!I really want to know much of this "pedal gate" is real versus how much of this is being exaggerated by the US government and auto companies who are already desperate to dethrone Toyota.
February 4, 2010 12:38 pm
RF85
The americans are using the media to lure Toyota customers over to buy their cheap cars. I can't believe they are makin such a big deal out of this. Toyota isn't the first company to issue a recall.
February 4, 2010 1:55 pm
sebfill55
Dude people have died from this and Toyota knew about it for awhile. How can u say that we are luring people to buy our cars, if anything has gotten outta control its Toyota and thats a fact look at all the accidents that have happened becuase of their carelessness. If this is anyones fault its Toyotas and theirs alone. Its also not only happening in America but all over the world so idk how u can blame the American government for this but thats just fucked up on ur part.
February 4, 2010 2:12 pm
autoficianado
That is quite an offensive statement. Blame Toyota for Toyota's problems.
February 4, 2010 2:45 pm
radmeister
People die from stabbing themselves with pencils, shit happens. How many products have there been on the American market that have killed people? LOTS, has there ever been such an investigation and fiasco about them? No, i think you have to come to terms with the system. We all have a price on our head, and as business rules dictate, you have to be profitable, and sometimes that involves taking that price into account in your calculations. This is a simple example of tarnishing a brand, and competitor. The government has to be very careful how they handle the situation, seeing how they are not just simply the govt investigating and making claims, they have a conflict of interest toyota could come back and launch a lawsuit for tarnishing and truthfully they could easily win as things stand.
February 4, 2010 3:14 pm
Joe_Limon
radmeister, people don't unintentionally stab themselves to death. People are unintentionally killing themselves with toyota's products. It could have been just a regular recall, but with the government having to apply pressure in order to get Toyota to do anything, and with Toyota covering their tracks by paying off lawyers with multi million dollar severance packages. One has to at least raise an eyebrow.
February 5, 2010 3:42 am
Joe_Limon
Another way to think of it is like this. Guns are very dangerous products. They kill their owners every year in very high numbers. However, if there was just a single one of those guns was to fire and kill someone when the safety is still on, there would be a massive recall. Same thing goes for Toyota.
February 5, 2010 4:42 am
jale
first issue with gas pedal on rav4 (millions rav4 for Europe have that issue), then this...too bad for toyota :(
February 4, 2010 2:09 pm
RF85
sebfill55 You have to admit that the media is over reacting on this and are you goin to argue the fact that Americans are luring over Toyota customers? They are offering special deals for people who drove Toyotas. Just read some news already! If that?s not using the situation in their advantage?that?s the only way Americans will ever sell their ?quality? cars?
February 4, 2010 2:31 pm
sebfill55
Yeah so what if there using it good for them. I own A H2 no major problems other than the gas but if u can afford it who cares, the things been in 2.3 feet of mud water and god knows what and drives great and has no mechanical problems. Ive managed to put 115k miles on it and still runs strong. So please dont say our cars are shit, I still prefer German over American but America has some good cars.
February 4, 2010 3:23 pm
Razz
This american is the typical law suits lover .. when a problem occurs, he is the first to make a benefit. Let's face it, the pedal problem is not that big after all, you see something's wrong, you go to be covered by the guarantee. If they didn't had the initiave of the recall, yes .. it would have been a sin .. but instead, they had. So .. even with the pedal problem, i would still buy a toyota instead of an american crappy made car (somebody can name ONE single made in USA quality car?).
February 4, 2010 2:32 pm
Alfafox5
Razz, you're a douche - great American cars are all around. From a powerful Mustang to an efficient Ford Fusion, to a luxurious Cadillac CTS. If you wanna slam the US go shout on some political website, this is about car, a company that lied, and the consequences that come from poor choices. Get over yourself and quit pretending you know anything about the US.
February 5, 2010 4:16 am
carcrazy1234
actually UR an idiot. american cars are known for reliability issues. they might make good cars now, but they still will NOT last as long as japanese vehicles. WHO went bankrupt? WHO were the greedy bastards that made american car companies fall to the ground? all this hype is bs. at least they had the balls to STOP production of all their vehicles and fix the issue quickly... unlike the americans who just keep building their horrible, overweight cars, and no sense of fuel efficiency until nowadays.
February 6, 2010 5:11 pm
autoficianado
I don't think any of you really know any actual Americans. It's amazing that this is a car forum discussing Toyota recalls and all the comments are degrading to Americans. Can we talk about cars please...?
February 4, 2010 2:48 pm
Razz
1st - My comment was about the american media hitting on Toyota (maybe with some "bonuses") to make a point that Japanese cars are not good and american are. 2nd - You don't tell me that the Americans are not into the law suits process, they go in court for everything .. this guy here was in a trial also with Ford .. nobody said something degrading about the american people, only true facts .. as for the quality of the US Cars, it's true they have 0 quality ..
February 4, 2010 3:16 pm
radmeister
Americans as individuals are normal people. Same as all people from all nations. The problem comes from how they act as a mob/group. As a nation, both politically and culturally they believe with all their heart that they are the center of the world, and it is their god given right to control the world and therefore other people's lives. For that reason is why the world hates Americans, as a mob/group/nation not on an individual basis. I don't think anyone has any idea of what type of person joe blow from Arkansas is or pass judgment on him. But as a nation you make for a very ugly and dark photograph, both historically and currently.
February 4, 2010 3:24 pm
dbehmoaras
Yeah, because the history of all other countries is like a fairy tale. Germany, France, UK, China, Russia, the entire American continent (North and South, except for Canada, obviously), the majority of Africa, Southeast Asia...they all have very bright histories. Give me a break.
February 4, 2010 10:06 pm
radmeister
The history of all those countries is more beautiful than American history, and their current actions and the way they have changed since those days has almost erased those bad times. All those countries had more beautiful years than ugly. I can't remember a single good thing the US has ever done. Or a single country that respects them other than Israel. But the good o'l American way of thought is the world must be crazy and jealous, couldn't actually be their fault. Ignorance is bliss. Combine that with arrogance and you have a global bully. And just like in life, most times the bully end's up in a ditch with his face down and nobody will help, while the geeks are living a profitable and comfortable life. That's what's gonna happen.
February 4, 2010 10:21 pm
radmeister
Guys you have to be realistic, all car companies use the Robert McNamara approach to recalls. A price is put on the life of a person from previous data of settlements from a death caused by a manufacturer fault. Then they take into account the probability of that happening, the # of cars, and the cost to repair. A recall is issued when the scale tips over to it being cheaper to fix the problem, usually that involves a few deaths. Ford, GM use the same methodology, all issued recalls can be traced back to deaths. All manufacturers had knowledge, and evaluated it as an acceptable cost.
Toyota is being crucified right now, because it is still outselling GM and Ford combined, and the US govt now owns GM and most of Chrysler with no signs of ever getting it's money back. So they result to the oldest trick in the book when it comes to marketing, take advantage of when your competition screws up and tarnish their name to the full extent of your capabilities. Which in this case it is no longer company vs. company, it is govt vs. company.
Now they are targeting the Prius, like give me a break. I would like to see the govt so devoted to inspecting cars and fixing their problems and making manufacturers accountable with Ford and GM..If you believe that Ford and GM have no problems that have resulted in death in the last 2 years then you are living in a dream world.
February 4, 2010 3:06 pm
dbehmoaras
Whether the attacks on Toyota are a marketing ploy or not, the fact of the matter is that consumers should be made aware of these problems. It was either going to be the companies or the media to attack them. Toyota messed up, and now they have to suffer the consequences. I disagree that it was the competition that stained Toyota's reputation. Toyota did it to themselves, and if anything the competition is doing the right thing by offering incentives to consumers so that they can get a car that won't get them killed. The implication that competitors are attacking Toyota is somewhat irrelevant because this marketing ploy runs rampant throughout everything that can be sold. I hope you use Windows instead of OSX, or there is a serious conflict of interest in your argument. I agree with what the lawyer did by releasing these documents, because otherwise Toyota might have gotten away with a lot more or more people would have died. In a way, one could argue that the lawyer did Toyota a favor, because if someone found out that it was Toyota's fault and Toyota did nothing, Toyota would be in a lot more trouble than they are now.
February 4, 2010 7:55 pm
radmeister
Hmmm as for this article, this guy is a lawyer and he stole sensitive company documents while employed..Pretty illegal if you ask me. But i'm sure that the arbitrator will make them public, this whole thing is not about the people that died or may have died. It is about systematically destroying a company.
February 4, 2010 3:19 pm
dbehmoaras
Your view is so twisted by your disdain for American cars. If people are dying, Toyota has an obligation to let people know the truth immediately. Because Toyota did not do that (Toyota's products have been having issues for quite some time now), the lawyer took it upon himself to tell the public, and rightfully so. It's not about destroying a company. It's about making a company face the consequences of its poor judgment. Criticizing the lawyer for what he did is like attacking the people who broke into the Watergate hotel. The people who broke in got arrested for attempted burglary and conspiracy. But the fact of the matter is that what Nixon was doing was undeniably much worse.
February 4, 2010 8:35 pm
Razz
Honestly .. i don't think that the inteligent buyer who was into the Toyota's yard will now look to another brand, because a client why buys a Japanese or Euro car in US i really think that he does some research first. So, maybe Honda and Kia Hyundai will see some increase in the sales no. but the Euro and US cars will have the same market .. i wonder what FIAT will do with Chrysler now ..
February 4, 2010 3:24 pm
Shark
Crash and burn Toyota!! It was reported that Toyota was secretly fixing the known issue with the brakes on the Prius, yet not letting the current owners know they have a problem car and on top of it denied there was a problem when asked. It wasn't until they were forced to take action that they admitted there was an issue! Lie, after lie! This issue regarding the rollovers and there cars failing that test was made public as well, when asked to participate in the latest test for rollovers late last year, they declined to participate unlike other manufacturers... Why?? Because they knew their vehicles would fail miserably! All there focus was in the past few years was to be number one, and quality took a hit and a huge one! This kind of reminds me of World War II when the Japanese tried to takeover the world, bombing Pearl Harbour, and were just weeks away from launching an assault with their own atomic bom. We know how all of that ended... Same goes now with their cars, doing whatever it takes to be number one, and it is haunting them now and will for a long time, credibility is out the door!
February 4, 2010 5:14 pm
M!
he should say "Many automakers are very secretive operations."
i don't quite remember, but i am sure some will remember those early Audi TT's engineering problem? how many were killed before audi took action to admit and correct their design? nothing against audi or toyota.
at least, they are being scrutinized now and buyers will think twice before buying that Toyota or that LF-A.
February 4, 2010 5:19 pm
M!
Speeding LF-A driver's new excuse to get out of a speeding ticket: "My gas pedal was sticking".
February 4, 2010 5:20 pm
azeemkhan1999
its UNITED STATES OF AMERICA vs toyota............
does anyone remember FORD PINTO.
http://motherjones.com/politics/1977/09/pinto-madness
article says there were roughly 500 burn deaths...
Ford Motor Company's cost-benefit analysis of retrofitting the Pinto
http://www.calbaptist.edu/dskubik/pinto.htm
there was a comment somewhere "CRASH AND BURN TOYOTA"
initially i thought pinto was manufactured by toyota, CRASH AND BURN
February 4, 2010 6:56 pm
radmeister
Like i said above, it's simply statistics. Roughly 500 burn deaths would put the cost of deaths slightly higher than the cost of replacement. And they waited until that time to make a change....People this isn't new, this started in WW2 where people started to calculate human life into profit calculations. They decided to fly their bombers at lower altitude where they were in danger of being shot down(more accurate bombing) because the cost of fuel and bombs in relation to the cost of training a pilot and building a plane with the probability of getting shot down was lower. Who knows how many pilots died because of this methodology, but ever since then this approach has been accepted in all sectors of business. It is being taught in schools, and is part of what is known as good practice. It's all about $$, nobody gives a shit about you as a person. All you have is the money you bring, and the price of your life, that's it.
February 4, 2010 10:12 pm
The Car Guru 4
The worst part of the whole deal is what's happening to Toyoda. The man who is trying to turn Toyota from a soulless A-to-B car brand to a brand that makes cars with some excitement is now getting blamed, even though he stepped in long after this disaster started.
February 4, 2010 9:16 pm
The Car Guru 4
But don't worry, Toyota is still "moving forward"; they have to, their accelerator pedal is stuck.
February 4, 2010 9:24 pm
radmeister
dbehmoaras :
I'm not gonna reply to both your posts individually because they will both get the same response. No single manufacturer of ANY product tells you all the possible risks. Mainly because of the unpredictability of human nature and other factors that cannot be foreseen. Like this for example, out of over 4 million vehicles 20 people may have died directly from this problem, 0.0005%. If all manufacturers provided warning labels for every dangerous situation that could arise with a 0.0005% probability from using their products, sad to tell you but the product would be made out of labels. Or would simply not be made.
The people have the right to know? Unless they died as soon as they got in the car and didn't have a chance to learn about this problem then i will bet that either most customers already knew about this problem, or simply were part of the majority that never experienced it. So they are either ignorant, or it was not a big deal. The business world works on a need-to-know basis, and the "need" is a mathematical calculation that says you knowing is cheaper than letting you die.
If you need to know all the hazards of owning a product a can of coke would come with a 500 page book, and even then it would not cover every single possible hazard considering how many cans of coke are sold in a 3 year span globally.
To tell you the truth unless you are mentally retarded you wouldn't have died from this problem, who in their right mind would push the brake and gas at the same time? Or who would slam the gas so hard that it would flex the pedal and make it jam? I mean u know what sucks that 20 people died, that's 20 people less paying tax, but at the end of the day natural selection is a bitch, and so is doing business.
February 4, 2010 10:03 pm
dbehmoaras
I didn't mean that Toyota should have sold the car with a warning label. My problem with Toyota is that they concealed something that should have been in the open long ago, when they first encountered the problem, and it bothers me even more that someone else had to break an agreement in order to let the public know about potentially perilous problem. It doesn't matter that very few people experienced this problem, what matters is the possibility that many more could get hurt. Already, 2.3 million cars have been recalled (according to the Japan Times). You don't need to be a genius to realize the magnitude of this situation. In fact, even an idiot would agree that there could be a problem. Although it is not necessarily likely, it is very possible that these cars were affected. Toyota claims to have corrected the problem, but there are still a good number of cars in the US alone that may have the problem. I agree that it is idiotic to intentionally press the gas and brake at the same time or that they slam on the gas and jam it. But like you said here, human nature is unpredictable, and earlier, "shit happens." I disagree with the philosophy that dictates that this problem does not need to be fixed because people should not be so stupid because stupidity is too subjective. The "If people do something wrong, then they will have problems" is a horrendous philosophy. "I mean u know what sucks that 20 people died, that's 20 people less paying tax, but at the end of the day natural selection is a bitch, and so is doing business." There are so many things wrong with this. First of all, you clearly do not know what natural selection is. Natural selection is the process by which heritable traits that make it more likely for an organism to survive and successfully reproduce become more common in a population over successive generations. I understand the metaphor you are going for, but it does not apply here because it is not natural for a technical failure in a consumer product to have an impact on the survival of an organism. Furthermore, if someone you knew was harmed because of this issue, you would not think that they were mentally retarded. Also, I'm curious where you got 20 deaths from.
Here's an article worth taking a look at: http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20100202n1.html
February 4, 2010 10:28 pm
radmeister
Technology is part of our new nature, it surrounds us almost everywhere we go. I view nature on a broader field than trees and plants somewhere in the wild. Although that may have been true 10,000 years ago, our "natural" environment is changing to a synthetic one. As we have evolved so has this meaning, we no longer have predators other than other humans and ourselves. In this case it would be natural selection, the people that died, were most likely morons, or simply had bad luck. Morons in the sense that they did not inherit genetically a strong intellect and our new "nature" eliminated their genes from being carried on.
As for if i knew one of those people, sorry id be speaking i'll of my dead friends. Whether someone is my friend or not doesn't change the fact that they are morons. Perhaps i would feel sad about their passing, but i would not be complimenting their IQ.
I don't know any of those people. The phrase "if my aunt had balls i'd call her uncle" comes to mind.
As for the figure i forget where i read it, but it said that there may be up to 20 deaths related to this problem as more people and investigations into vehicular deaths with these vehicles are being re-examined.
February 4, 2010 11:08 pm
Share, rate & save
February 4, 2010 7:00 am By Zack Newmark
Filed Under: Corporate/Financial, Industry, Japanese, Production, Toyota
Filed Under: Corporate/Financial, Industry, Japanese, Production, Toyota
Latest Videos
Volkswagen Golf GTI Cabriolet
Toyota GT86 driving dynamics detailed
Toyota GT86 design details
Toyota GT86 engine details
Audi e-bike in action
2013 Mercedes G 63 AMG trailer
2013 Audi RS4 Avant Trailer
Marisa Miller in Buick Enclave Commercial - behind the scenes
Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 to pace Indy 500
Nissan Juke R in Desert Nemesis short film
Latest Stories
Latest Photo Albums
BMW Zagato coupe
70 photos
2012 Worthersee GTI Fest
1
75 photos
Beijing Auto Show babes
5
31 photos
2012 New York Auto Show babes
5
13 photos
2012/2013 Audi A8 Hybrid
2
93 photos
Geneva babes
6
58 photos
BMW M550d xDrive
2
98 photos
Mazda Takeri concept
6
72 photos
